Leaving the military rarely means leaving behind everything a service member learned, and HX5 has built its veteran hiring approach around that idea. Under CEO Margarita Howard, the company treats accountability, attention to detail, and operational security, qualities common in military life, as assets that carry directly into government contracting work.
Howard’s own service in the Air Force gave her a close view of how those values function inside a mission driven organization. “My background was influenced by military service,” she says, describing how that experience continues to inform decisions she makes as CEO.
Familiar Values in a New Context
HX5’s emphasis on documentation, clearance maintenance, and performance standards mirrors much of what fellows already know from active duty, which can make the adjustment to civilian employment feel more like a change of setting than a change of values. The company has hosted eight fellows through the Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program since 2021, two each year, giving Howard a consistent group of transitioning service members to bring into that culture.
Where the fellowship adds the most value, according to Howard, is in areas where military and civilian workplaces diverge. Professional development sessions built into the 12 week program cover project management, corporate communication styles, and influencing without formal authority, skills that matter across industries but are not always part of military training.
A Different Kind of Adjustment
Margarita Howard has pointed out that government contracting itself requires its own kind of adjustment. “Experience in their respective fields, while supporting these agencies’ respective programs and missions, is very different from experience gained from working in the commercial world,” she explains, a distinction that HX5‘s fellowship structure is designed to address before fellows commit to a career in the field. That preparation, Howard suggests, often determines whether a fellow stays in contracting for years or drifts toward a different industry entirely. Refer to this article for related information.
Find more information about Margarita Howard on https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2025/11/12/what-will-defense-contracting-look-like-in-10-years/
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